Mudslide concerns surround Mountain Fire burn areas

IDYLLWILD -- Fire officials kept a close watch on lightning and rain Monday as crews continued to surround the 27,332-acre Mountain Fire.

The Riverside County Fire Department issued a voluntary evacuation warning Monday afternoon for residents of Apple Canyon Road north of Bonita Vista Road because of the potential for flash flooding within the burn areas.

The flooding could result in "mudslides and debris flows," said Sheldon Keafer, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. He said Zen Mountain Center on Apple Canyon had a report of mud flow in the late morning to early afternoon, but he had no updates.

Evacuees from Apple Canyon on Monday could head to Idyllwild Elementary School at 26700 Highway 243, said Riverside County fire spokeswoman Melody Hendrickson. The Red Cross staffed the school at 5 p.m.

Keafer said he estimated at least 20 homes in the Apple Canyon Road area, plus 15 to 18 people in Zen Mountain Center, were in the area listed for the voluntary evacuation.

More than 1,800 firefighters were still assigned to the blaze Monday, hundreds fewer than at the fire's peak. The fire was 85 percent contained by 6 p.m. Monday. Full containment is expected on Wednesday.

"We underwent a huge amount of demobilization (Sunday) that's going to continue today and tomorrow," said Lee Beyer, a fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service, on Monday.

Concerns lingered regarding the potential for mudslides from thunderstorms in the burn area.

And though there were no reports of lightning igniting any new fires near the incident, about 100 lightning strikes had been reported elsewhere in the Inland Empire between Saturday and Monday. Ten of those strikes lit trees and small patches of brush on fire near areas such as Lake Arrowhead, the Morongo Indian Reservation, Angelus Oaks and Forest Falls.

"We expect more lightning and more small fires," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Howard Hunter.

Mudslides also remained a concern in Idyllwild as a flash-flood warning was in effect for parts of the Inland Empire.

Keafer said the burn areas took an inch and a half of rain on Sunday and even more on Monday. Still, he described the number of communities affected by the heavy rain runoff as "limited."

"If they get a flash flood, it's a normal flash flood because the rains are heavy," Keafer said. "Places like Apple Canyon and some of the smaller establishments around the south end of the fire can be a direct result of the fire itself."

A small mudslide was reported in the Bonita Vista area Sunday afternoon but did not damage roads or structures, Beyer said.

A Burn Area Emergency Rehabilitation Team -- comprising U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management personnel -- will come to the area to look at mudslide risk factors.

All evacuations in Idyllwild and surrounding communities have been lifted, and authorities began allowing visitors into previously evacuated areas Monday.

The Palm Springs Tramway is scheduled to open Tuesday, Keafer said, while the campgrounds and road in the San Jacinto Ranger District of the San Bernardino National Forest remain closed.